Washington, D.C. – A 41-year-old District man, J.P. Battle, has pled guilty to one count of Voluntary Manslaughter while Armed in connection with the stabbing death of his acquaintance, Vincent Simpson, following an argument in December 2007, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

Battle pled guilty earlier today in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, and will be sentenced on November 7, 2008, by the Honorable Frederick H. Weisberg. Battle faces a possible maximum sentence of 30 years of incarceration.

At today’s plea hearing, Battle admitted that during the evening of December 4, 2007, he went to visit his young daughter in an apartment in the 4900 block of Quarles Street, SE (PSA 601). Present at the time of this visit, were his daughter’s mother, her brother, a friend, and the decedent, 27-year-old Vincent Simpson. During the course of the evening, Battle asked his daughter’s mother, why she let Simpson get a plate of food. Simpson responded that the defendant no longer lived in the apartment. Moreover, Simpson said that the defendant was not financially responsible for his daughter. They got into a verbal altercation, during which, Battle pulled out a knife and stabbed Simpson in the chest. Simpson died as a result of the stab wound to his chest.

In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Taylor commended the work of Detectives Brian Kasul, Dan Lewis, William Xanten, Milton Norris of the Violent Crime Branch, Detective Ucrania Morales and Officers Hung Le, Lashay Makal, David Randolph, and Anita Maulfair of the Sixth District, and Dwayne Mitchell, Natasha Pettus, and Keith Slaughter of the Mobile Crime Unit. He also commended Paralegal Specialist Marian Russell, Legal Assistant Doloris Young, and Victim Witness Advocate Marcey Rinker. Finally, he commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles W. Cobb, who investigated and prosecuted the case.